Description

Fire managers define the wildland-urban interface as all areas were flammable wildland fuels are adjacent to homes and communities. With this definition, the wild-land-urban interface may encompass a much broader landscape than traditionally perceived. For example, the Tunnel Fire in the Oakland hills in 1991 included a large area that, for practical purposes, could be considered truly urban -- the edges of the fire were not far from either downtown Oakland or Berkeley. At the other end of the spectrum, wildland fires also threaten or destroy rural homes farm from the closest population center. no longer is the evening news coverage of subdivisions overrun by wildfire unique to southern California. Today, this is an all-too-common occurrence throughout the U.S. from Washington to Florida and Maine to Arizona. It is also a significant problem in other countries, as demonstrated in Australia during the last two weeks of 2001 when more than 1.5 million acres and 140 homes and businesses were blackened by wildfire.